Cañoncito land deal puzzles neighbors
Related
Advertisement
Water rights, fairness issues swirl around proposed exchange that preserves historic property
9/7/2008 - 9/8/08
A federal land trade in the Cañoncito area has some residents crying foul.Under the terms of the deal — one of hundreds contained in a bill set to be considered by the U.S. Senate this week — a private land owner would trade 154 acres of his land to the Pecos National Historic Park.
In return, the landowner, Harold Zuschlag, would get 160 acres of Forest Service land atop the Glorieta Mesa. He would also retain the right to pipe water from wells on the land he currently owns, up the cliff to his new parcel.
The national historic park wants Zuschlag's land because it is one of the locations where the Battle of Glorieta, a pivotal Civil War fight, took place.
About 80 percent of the Cañoncito Unit of the battlefield is still privately owned, according to Park Superintendent Kathy Billings. Legislation passed in 1990 authorized the park to acquire those lands through purchase or exchange. But the park does not have money to buy the land now, Billings said, so the exchange would be ideal.
Neighbors say the steep rocky canyon Zuschlag owns isn't worth nearly as much as the gently sloping acreage he would receive from the Forest Service. They also have concerns about the clause that would allow Zuschlag to retain water rights on the land he's proposed to trade.
The fact that the land exchange has been folded into the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2008, they say, hampers the ability of the public to become involved.
Richard Stump, whose property abuts the Forest Service land that would be traded, said he found out about the proposed deal during an unrelated discussion with Zuschlag.
"I was caught completely by surprise," said Stump, who bought his property in the area about three years ago.
"It opened up Pandora's box. So we started looking into it and that's when we started finding out about this whole bill.
"I don't object to the land exchange exactly," said Stump. "I object to the way it's occurring."
Leslie Barnard, who lives south of Zuschlag's parcel but doesn't adjoin it, said she's doesn't see the logic in the park gaining the land for preservation, only to allow Zuschlag to run a pipeline up the cliff.
"I would actually see the pipeline from my deck," she said, "from my doorstep in essence."
Barnard said she doesn't know all the facts, but wants answers from experts about the impacts of the trade before it goes through.
"I don't care for how this guy went about it," Barnard said. "He'll claim he told his neighbors, but people I've talked to had no idea about this legislation. I question the intent of it ... there is something very shifty about it, honestly. He's telling the Park Service he would develop it anyway if they don't swap, but I don't see the developability of the land."
Zuschlag said he's insulted by implications that he's doing anything underhanded. He said he's only trying to do something good by offering to trade the land so a part of history can be preserved. He said there are two well easements in the deal, one for him, and one for the Cañoncito Domestic Water Consumers Association. Zuschlag said he currently sells the association (which serves about 70 homes) about a million gallons of water per year for one dollar.
"We are a family that likes to treat humanity well," said Zuschlag, who owns about 500 acres in the area. "The accusations that we are building a subdivision and all of that is quite offensive."
When the deal was first proposed in 1998, Zuschlag said, he notified all of his neighbors in writing. Since then new people have moved into the neighborhood, Zuschlag said. "But we have not kept this secret."
Janine Blaeloch director of the Western Lands Project (a nonprofit that monitors federal land exchanges), said Congress must authorize a trade if it involves more than one federal agency.
But, "The problem with something like this going through Congress is people usually find out at the 11th hour that it's happening," she said. "Then the only recourse they have it to send faxes to Congress ... or fly to Washington, D.C., to try to get a seat to testify at a hearing."
Western Lands recently wrote a review of all the public lands bills pending in Congress, including the one in Cañoncito.
The review raises two concerns. First, it says, the land Zuschlag owns appears to be relatively undevelopable and thus does not need to be immediately acquired for preservation. Second, the easement for pipelines to the wells on the property keeps the public from acquiring full interest in the property, and poses the risk of impact to the site from pipelines.
The Western Lands Project suggests in its report that instead of authorizing the trade, the bill should mandate an official environmental analysis of the trade which would allow for more public input and vetting of the deal.
"The best approach, however — assuming the inholding is threatened with development — would be to acquire the Zuschlag parcel ... through purchase," continued the review.
Zuschlag, a mechanical engineer, disputes neighbors' claims that he is trying to trade "rocks for gold." Ranchers, he said, may look for a flat piece of land to graze cattle, but for someone like him, trying to build a home, the craggy cliffs on the parcel would afford tremendous views.
Federal law requires both pieces of land to be appraised. If the values aren't equal, the party receiving the more valuable land is required to make a cash payment to the other party. Neither parcel has been appraised.
Over the past decade, numerous versions of this trade have been written. In a 2000 version, Zuschlag requested the 160-acre parcel be deeded to him in four 40-acre tracts. That language is not contained in the current bill, which leaves many details to negotiation. But the request has neighbors worried he plans to develop the land contrary to county zoning, which does not allow parcels smaller than 160 acres in that location.
Zuschlag said he only wants to build a home and allow his children to do the same.
Local Forest Service staff referred The New Mexican to the agency's national press office. That office said Forest Service staff can't comment on pending legislation and directed the paper to testimony given by the Forest Service during a 2004 hearing on the exchange.
That testimony, given by Chad Calvert, deputy assistant secretary for lands and minerals management of the U.S. Department of the Interior, proposed several amendments to the deal. Some have been incorporated into the current version of the bill. One requesting Zuschlag be made financially responsible for the costs associated with necessary appraisals and environmental impact studies has not.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., is a bill sponsor.
But Stump and Barnard say they aren't sure the lawmaker really knows the details of the exchange.
"I don't think, Bingaman, if he honestly walked the land and looked at it, would allow this to go through," Barnard said.
Bingaman staffer Maria Najera said the senator knows what the bill contains, and believes the land deal is in the best interest of the public. "It's a very small parcel of land that is being exchanged and we feel it's important," she said. "We are trading it to acquire a piece of land that is of cultural significance."
Najera added that the bill went before numerous hearings which never generated any controversy. "We are aware that new concerns have come about since then," she said. "Senator Bingaman as always will take all concerns into consideration on this issue." Najera stressed that the passing of the bill does not make the exchange a done deal, but only allows it to happen. Federal, state and local laws relating to environmental studies, land division and water use will still apply even if the bill passes, she said.
Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or phaywood@sfnewmexican.com
